The Eaton Fire Recovery Fund
Help Rebuild the Heart of Pasadena Waldorf School
On January 7, 2025, the Eaton Fire forever changed Pasadena Waldorf School.
Our beloved Paquita Lick Machris Campus - the historic home of our school for more than four decades - was destroyed. Eleven buildings, classrooms, gathering spaces, playgrounds, and over 200 trees were lost in a single day. It was more than the loss of a campus. It was the loss of a place where generations of children learned, celebrated, discovered themselves, and built lifelong friendships.
Yet even in the face of unimaginable loss, our community chose hope.
Within days, teachers, staff, parents, alumni, and friends came together to ensure our students could continue learning. Classes resumed on temporary campuses across Southern California. Families adapted. Teachers reimagined classrooms. Our community refused to let the fire define our future.
Today, more than a year and a half later, Pasadena Waldorf School has returned home to Altadena.
After extensive environmental remediation, our McComb Campus has been fully restored and will serve our K–12 students. Our preschool has also returned to Altadena at the nearby Girl Scouts Center, bringing our community back together while we begin planning the rebuilding of the Paquita Lick Machris Campus.
Our recovery is well underway, but our work is far from finished.
The Road Ahead
The Eaton Fire Recovery Fund supports the ongoing work required to rebuild Pasadena Waldorf School for future generations.
Your gift helps make possible:
Planning and design for the reconstruction of the Paquita Lick Machris Campus
Restoration of outdoor learning spaces, gardens, playgrounds, and gathering areas
Replacement of educational resources, equipment, and campus infrastructure lost in the fire
Continued support for students and teachers as our community transitions back to Altadena
Recovery expenses that are not fully covered by insurance or government assistance
Every contribution helps move us one step closer to welcoming students back to a rebuilt campus designed to serve children for decades to come.
A Community Worth Rebuilding
Pasadena Waldorf School has served children and families for more than forty years.
Our mission has always extended beyond academics. We nurture curiosity, creativity, compassion, resilience, and a lifelong love of learning. We believe children deserve an education that develops not only the mind, but also the heart and the hands.
That mission did not end with the fire.
It lives on every day in our classrooms, in our teachers, in our students, and in a community that chose perseverance over despair.
Now we have the opportunity to build the next chapter.
Our Journey Home
From Loss to Recovery and Rebuilding
Each milestone reflects the resilience of our students, families, faculty, staff, and supporters.
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1
January 7, 2025
The Eaton Fire
The Paquita Lick Machris Campus is destroyed, including 11 buildings, classrooms, gathering spaces, playgrounds, and more than 200 trees.
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2
Winter 2025
Learning Continues
Classes resume through temporary campuses, community spaces, parks, and partner organizations. Our students remain together and our mission continues.
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3
2025–2026
McComb Restored
The surviving McComb Campus undergoes extensive environmental assessment, remediation, repair, and independent verification.
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4
2026–2027 School Year
Returning to Altadena
K–12 students return to the McComb Campus, while preschool is hosted nearby at the Girl Scouts Center.
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5
The Road Ahead
Rebuilding Mariposa
Planning and design are underway for a rebuilt Paquita Lick Machris Campus that will serve future generations of children.
Gifts to the Eaton Fire Recovery Fund support rebuilding, restoration, replacement of lost resources, and recovery expenses not fully covered by insurance or government assistance.
Thank you for supporting Pasadena Waldorf School.
Questions about giving to PWS?
Contact Stuart Brawley and Jon Brody in the PWS Development Office.
Thank You
Thousands of individuals, foundations, businesses, volunteers, and neighbors have stood beside Pasadena Waldorf School throughout our recovery. Because of your generosity, our students never stopped learning, our faculty remained focused on our mission, and our community has begun returning home.
We are deeply grateful. As we continue rebuilding, we invite you to be part of what comes next. Your gift is an investment in children, in education, and in the future of Pasadena Waldorf School.
Together, we are rebuilding more than buildings. We are rebuilding a community.
Make your gift to the Eaton Fire Recovery Fund today and help bring Pasadena Waldorf School home.